Surveillance Testing to Begin for On-Campus Students

Sept. 11, 2020

SARANAC LAKE -- As we have all learned, the coronavirus is unpredictable and can spread quickly. After several examples of COVID-19 outbreaks on college campuses, the State University of New York (SUNY), which we are a part of, moved to require regular surveillance testing for all students who will be on college campuses this semester.

Over the last week, we have been developing those plans and they are currently under review. As the overwhelming majority of our classes are being delivered online, this requirement will only affect students with in-person classes and those desiring to access academic supports (e.g. Learning Assistance Center, Library, internet) and administrative supports (e.g. Bursar's Office, Financial Aid).

Our reopening plan initially called for students to be able to access, by appointment only, on-campus academic and administrative support services beginning Monday, September 14th. However, we are postponing that start date until Monday, September 21st to give ourselves time to work out the details related to surveillance testing.

Look for more details about testing and the protocols to be distributed to our campus community early next week. In the meantime, any students who planned to visit campus for academic supports like the LACs will have to do so remotely.